


The Masterplan

by alxnso



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Forced Relationship(s), M/M, More tags to be added, Past Relationship(s), Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3356504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alxnso/pseuds/alxnso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Fernando had been in this slightly unethical teaming system for 14 years, yet he still dreaded the moment he would be asked to write down his desired partner, and even more so the day when he’d be forced to drink the tiny vial of purplish liquid and gaze into his selected teammate’s eyes...</i>
</p><p>An AU in which teams are selected and loosely based on the drivers' selections,<br/>an AU in which the drivers are forced to fall in love with their teammate,<br/>an AU in which everything is a whole lot darker than anyone ever actually imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No Escape

“I hate this shitty fucking teaming system.” Sebastian moaned down the phone, pulling a face and squeezing his free hand into a fist. “What if I get, like, Lewis or something. How _awful_ would that be!” Behind him, Lewis stuck his tongue out and turned back to the mechanism on the door, rigorously tugging on the handle in a vain attempt to prize the thing free. 

“Forget it, Lew, we’re not going to get out of here.” Jenson said quietly, resting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m sure Fernando would’ve found a way out by now if there was one.” Lewis nodded slowly and sat back in his chair. 

“I hate this.”

“We all do.” In the very corner of the room, Checo sat on the ground, slightly hunched over and scratching at the paint on the floor with his fingernails. Tiny flakes of shoddy floor paint peeled away and gathered at his finger ends and he let out a breath. “But you’re all going to end up scaring the new kids.” Carlos, Max and Nasr each exchanged worried glances before looking back at Checo.

“Uh, I think you’ve done that all by yourself, mate.” Jenson swallowed awkwardly and turned to face the newbies. “There’s nothing to worry about, as long as you read the small print when you signed up.” He appeared more relaxed after saying this, until he noticed the trio’s expressions and his face fell. “You didn’t read the small print, did you?”

“Um, no.” Carlos scratched the back of his head. “We didn’t.”

“This is just great. So you’ve no idea how the teams work?”

“To be honest with you, I had not really thought about it.” Shrugging, Carlos made to face his fellow newcomer, but caught sight of Checo before he did. The young mexican was now scratching at the paint with a small metal tool and appeared very concentrated on this task. “Uh, what’s _he_ doing?” Carlos enquired, whilst lifting a finger to point at Checo.

“Digging an escape tunnel by the looks of things.” Fernando spoke up monotonously. His expression was serious and his entire body seemed rigid. He was perched on a footstool, trying his hardest not to yell at anyone or burst into tears - whichever emotion was most likely to show. “He will be here for a very long time.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“Last year, he didn’t write down anyone on his voting slip. His name was called and obviously the door unlocked. Instead of taking the short walk down the corridor to the voting room, he made a run for it down a different corridor and bashed as many doors as he could see.” Checo glanced up and pulled a face at Fernando. “Of course - they were all locked too, but he got his punishment for trying to escape.”

“What was it?” Before Fernando could respond, Checo stood up suddenly and lifted his hand. Wordlessly, he strode over to Carlos and pushed his wrist in his face.

“ _This._ This happened.” There was black ink in his wrist, much like a tattoo, but written in it was someone’s name. A name of which they were all familiar.

“Oh.” Carlos swallowed hard. By this time, Sebastian had finished on the phone and was watching with visible distress as Checo leaned over the dark spaniard, baring his wrist. “ _Oh._ ” Checo slowly inhaled, then exhaled before standing up straight and pulling his sleeve down. 

“Sorry.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Absolutely not.” Checo retreated back to his corner and picked up the tool, attacking the ground with the sharp edge and pulling away a chunk of concrete. 

“Are you really digging a tunnel?”

“I’ll do anything to not be forced into a romantic relationship.” With that he smirked and refused to answer any more questions from his friends. Sebastian shook his head slowly and picked up his phone again. Just as he opened a text thread with Mark, all his signal dropped and none of his messages would send. He frantically tried calling and opening the web browser but absolutely nothing was working. In a fit of anger he growled and hurled his phone at Checo's corner, smashing the fragile device into tiny, irreparable pieces. 

"Great. Thanks Sebastian."

"I never liked that damn phone anyway." Sebastian huffed. "Sorry." Checo didn't say anything, he just looked up and forced a smile. "Do you need a hand?"

"With what?"

"Digging your hole? We're all kind of going to be here a while -"

"Some longer than others..."

"-But I could at least try to help you." Checo gave him a warm smile and beckoned for him to come over. 

"I have another little tool." He handed Seb the metal object, similar to a pickaxe, and he began to tap at the concrete dent Checo had started. After a while, Checo grew restless and couldn't sit still in the same position for more than ten minutes. He swallowed hard and looked directly up at Sebastian. "Do you plan on writing anyone's name?" The question was spoken with little intonation, and Sebastian almost mistook it for a statement - that he definitely would _not_ be writing anyone's name down.

"I...don't know." Checo shrugged at his response.

"There's not a lot of point in you helping me if you don't plan on escaping without voting with me."

"I said _I don't know_."

"Fine." From the wall nearest to them, Fernando stood from his footstool and yawned. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, a small red light illuminated part of the room and a high pitched robotic voice informed them that Sebastian Vettel had been called in to vote. A click of the doors and they unlocked, allowing Sebastian to drag himself to his feet and step past Checo, gently tug on the large, metal handle and leave the room. The door creaked shut behind him and everyone shifted anxiously without saying a word.


	2. Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ew filler chapter Gross... the next one will be better....

When Sebastian returned, he was accompanied by a tall man in a dark suit whose face was partially covered by a deep blue scarf. He grunted upon entering the room and raised a scrap of paper to his eye level. Clearing his throat, he began to speak.

“It appears that this year, Sebastian Vettel has chosen not to vote.” His voice had a nasal quality to it, and with every other syllable he seemed to raise his eyebrows as if he had never heard anything more exciting than his own voice. “As you all may be aware, this is a completely acceptable decision, however he will now have to spend a little longer in here.” He glanced over to where Checo was now sat against the wall, both tools abandoned and the tiny crater in the ground barely visible. “But, not quite as long as some people.” The man swallowed and turned completely around, before leaving the room and locking the door behind him.

“Do you...have one of those marks?” Carlos asked timidly, gesturing to Sebastian’s wrist.

“Not yet.” Seb responded, striding towards Checo and sitting himself down next to him. At that moment, the little red LED lit up the room again, and ‘Lewis Hamilton’ was called down the intercom. If Lewis didn’t seem anxious before, that certainly became apparent when he dragged himself to his feet and stumbled towards the door. His eyes seemed void of any emotion and he suddenly felt incredibly hot. Nico Rosberg watched as he lifted the door handle and left the room, praying his friend made it to the voting room and back without collapsing on the way. From then on, voting went smoothly with each driver being called through and the rest of them waiting in suspense as they thought about whose name they’d write down. Only Fernando sat on his footstool, contemplating how on earth the votes could possibly influence the new teams of the year, when it was clear that partnerships like Nico and Lewis were not likely to be broken up any time soon. Still, he wrote down the same name he’d always write down despite the knowledge that they would never come back.

It turned out that Sebastian and Checo both had a very long wait ahead of them, once all the votes had been cast and everyone else had been allowed to leave. For Sebastian, the strange reprimand for not voting was reminiscent of the times he spent in detention at school and he let out a soft giggle in memory of the mischief he somehow managed to cause during the punishment. Checo glanced at him and sighed. It’d all be over, soon.

Eventually, soon _did_ come and the second the heavy, metal doors began to pull apart, Checo jumped to his feet and strode out of the building, barely allowing Sebastian to wish him good luck with the results. Sebastian was greeted by the harsh, Australian sunlight as he walked slowly back towards the city in the hope of meeting up with the rest of his friends and enjoying what was left of his freedom.


	3. For The Last Time As Friends

The envelopes finally dropped through each of their doors on Friday March 13th 2015. Sebastian raised his eyebrows in surprise before racing upstairs to tell Hannah, his roomate. Kimi groaned inwardly at his own letter, glancing over at Fernando and offering an apologetic smile. _It was alright last year, for us._ Jev slammed his door, Daniil tried to console him and Daniel grinned, despite the dull ache in the pit of his stomach. 

Although Jev had known long before today that he would no longer be racing, it still hurt to see his best friend - or whatever he was - sail up the ranks to compete in what was one of the best teams on the grid, only for himself to be cast aside and forgotten. Daniil didn't have a lot to say to Jev, only offering a pat on the shoulder and a sorry smile. Daniel was nowhere to be seen.

Felipe and Valtteri were mostly indifferent to the selection - partly due to having almost gotten used to the setup and partly because had it been anyone else, they'd have no idea what they were doing. Only Rob watched from the sidelines, wishing the season away.

Fernando was half surprised to see such a team change, but the only real surprise for him would to ever have his vote to come true.

For the first time ever, it was eventually agreed amongst the drivers that they would all meet up the same day in order to become accustomed to their new partners. In previous years, most of the drivers would be too pissed off to even want to look at their new 'team mate'. This year though, due to some driving force amongst the younger drivers, they were all amenable. 

\--

Carlos, Max and Nasr were the first to show up to the small café on the outskirts of the city. As they approached the dainty front doors, they inspected the interior of the tiny building. Stepping inside, they easily spotted two free tables and pushed them together, politely informing the pretty waitresses in the best English they could cobble together, that more would be arriving soon. Carlos and Max easily fell into a comfortable conversation as Nasr entertained himself by tapping away on his phone, apparently engaged in a thrilling text conversation with Marcus. At least then, they appeared to be getting along alright. Yet, they still had Saturday the 14th to get ready for the first race of the season. Much later, Sebastian arrived with Kimi alongside him, and judging by Kimi's characteristic frown, it seemed they'd already exchanged letters. Nasr glanced upwards.

"Where is everyone else?"

"I am sure they will all arrive at different times." Kimi responded, sitting himself down next to Nasr. Sebastian followed like a lost sheep and sat beside Kimi. There was a brief lull in the conversation between Carlos and Max as they both glanced upwards to say 'hi' before returning back to their conversation. Nasr seemed uncomfortable as he squirmed in his seat and restlessly refreshed Twitter, as though he was looking for something to occupy his mind. Then, he received a text.

[From: Giedo  
To: Felipe  
I won the court case.] 

Nasr tried to swallow back the lump forming in his throat. Why was he telling _him_ this? He could only assume that Giedo had sent a similar text to Marcus, but even that didn't settle his stomach. By winning the court case, Giedo had won himself a seat at any team he desired - and both Nasr and Marcus knew exactly which team that was. To be in such a messy situation left Nasr feeling sick and slightly dizzy as he tried to think about his options. On the one hand, both he and Marcus loved the actual sport dearly, and they'd both got along so easily, however it _was_ a twisted system and they knew damn well that Fernando would give everything to be presented with the opportunity to escape. Nasr cautiously lifted his phone once more.

[To: Marcus  
From: Felipe  
There's something wrong with us for wanting to keep our seats...] 

He waits.

[From: Marcus  
To: Felipe  
I know.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant believe people are liking this ???? oh my ,, also i keep generically replying thank u to comments because im just so. overwhelmed. thank you so much for commenting n kudos'ing !!!! i love you !!!!!
> 
> oh also, i originally capitalised JEV because its Jean Eric Vergne but ive seen other people just put Jev so ? i dont know.
> 
> another thing: this feels like i didnt spend so much time on it ??? even though ive been sitting on this for nearly a week. i need to upload it before the first race though 
> 
> i hope the court case thing isnt too confusing? because im uploading chapter by chapter i will probably go back from time to time to edit chapters so i will mention when i do that so you can go back and have an updated read... the main reason im doing chapter by chapter is so i can try to keep things in line with reality and try to incorporate real outcomes into the story ......
> 
> essentially, this is the first really long thing ive had planned, and i really appreciate feedback on the storylines
> 
> thank you i hope this isnt too confusing and i hope you enjoy reading it !!! <3


	4. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fernando began to formulate a plan in his mind - a potentially dangerous plan, but a plan nonetheless.

The compulsory 'love potion' drinking took place in a building very similar to the voting building. The walls weren't painted, instead were the same miserable concrete colour to that of a prison. There were a couple of small windows, to let in some natural light and one single lightbulb dangled from the ceiling. Fernando fidgeted with his fingers.

The more Nasr heard of the chemicals he was about to ingest, the more he suddenly found himself woefully regretting his plea to keep his seat. Kimi had not _once_ ceased in his rant about the disgusting flavour of the chemical that would cause them all to fall in love. Nasr felt a bit sick. Kimi noticed him turn a deathly pale, and sighed. 

"Felipe." Kimi started. Both Massa and Nasr's heads jerked upwards and Kimi sighed once more. "Nasr." Felipe Massa raised an eyebrow before continuing his conversation with Valtteri.

"Yeah?" Nasr enquired, tipping his head slightly.

"You made a huge mistake ignoring the small print on your first letter." Nasr huffed.

"Don't _you_ start. I already got this from Fernando yesterday."

"Wait, I haven't finished. Yes, it was stupid of you not to read everything but it is going to be alright. You do not need to worry."

"Are you...worried about me?" A small smile gradually appeared on Nasr's face, yet Kimi said nothing more - only shrugged. Kimi knew too well how everyone hated to admit they were afraid, perhaps a little reassurance would help him feel better, if he was worried. 

A little while later, a couple of tall gentlemen approached the drivers. One carried a tray of 20 vials of purplish liquid and the other slightly shorter man held a crumpled up scrap of paper in his fist. The latter slowly straightened out the paper and began to read.

"Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will use Room 1." The pair stood up hurriedly, took a vial from the taller man, and made their way to the door of Room 1, their nerves in shreds. As they stepped inside the booth-like room, the heavy door drew closed behind them and prevented watching eyes from seeing any more.

"Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Room 2." Nico patted down his hair and closely followed Lewis to take a vial, before heading to their own room. The door closed silently the second they were inside. Slowly, Fernando began to formulate a plan in his mind - a potentially dangerous plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, Room 3." Jenson stood up first and scanned his eyes over the remaining drivers as he waited for his team mate to stand up. Fernando was deep in thought. Jenson fidgeted nervously, waiting for the idiot to relise they were waiting on him, and the booming voice read out their names once again. "Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, Room 3." Fernando leapt to his feet. He had a plan. He kept his composure as he grabbed a vial with Jenson and followed him to their room. Stepping inside, they watched the heavy door shut them off from the outside world.

"You drink first." Fernando ordered, collapsing into a tiny desk chair.

"We have to drink together, idiot." Jenson slowly sat down in the chair opposite, and idly unscrewed the lid from his vial. Fernando huffed.

"Did you talk to Checo like that?"

"Didn't need to. He was nice."

"And I am a pain in the ass, right?"

"Yeah. You are." Jenson shrugged and lifted the vial of chemicals to his lips. "Guess I can't put this off forever, no matter how irritating you are." He swiftly drank all of it down, before dropping it onto the concrete floor. He squeezed his eyes shut as he dealt with the disgusting flavour, and the second he opened his eyes he felt the familiar tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach. Fernando crossed his arms

"So, you love me, right?" He asked bluntly, when it appeared Jenson had recovered.

"Oh my God, I do."

"Which means you would do anything to protect me?"

"Anything." Jenson's eyes narrowed. Fernando smiled. Unscrewing the lid from his own vial, he glared at the contents and tipped it out onto the table between them, aware of how intensly Jenson was watching him. The liquid dissolved into the table.

"Then you tell anyone who asks that I drank it. I mean, you would not want to get your crush into trouble, right?" Jenson swallowed, shifting in his seat. There was no other option.

"Right. I hope you realise that these chemicals induce so much love into our tiny skulls that we cannot express love for anyone else or hatred for the one we love?"

"Sure."

"Well then, you'd better present some Oscar winning acting this year - they aren't _that_ stupid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is waaaay overdue but i hope you like it!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading :)
> 
> if i havent updated in a while you can give me a nudge at alxnso.co.vu (tumblr) <3


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